He’s now moving from Valencia to Barcelona but the Catalonian regional parliament this week voted to ban bullfighting, raising an interesting, if not entirely serious question: Will Villa continue his homage to la corrida at the Nou Camp and risk upsetting Catalans?

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos got into trouble last year for leaving a Real Madrid match to go and watch his matador friend Alejandro Talavante at a bullfight, still wearing his Real suit.

In his profile on the Real Madrid website, Ramos, who hails from Sevilla, a cradle of bullfighting, says he loves the bulls.

“I always dreamed of being a footballer or a bullfighter…I guess the bullfighting world was something that was instilled in me as a kid. Bullfighting is an art in which your life is constantly on the line.”

That should add some extra spice to the next match between old rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.

PHOTO: Spain’s David Villa celebrates with team mate Fernando Torres after scoring a second goal against Honduras during a 2010 World Cup Group H match at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg June 21, 2010. REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo

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Angus MacSwan has reported for Reuters for 25 years from Asia, Latin America, the United States, the Middle East, South Africa and the Balkans. He has covered events from the overthrow of President Marcos in the Philippines in 1986 to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He stood next to Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he voted in South Africa's first free election and witnessed the arrival of the first prisoners to the U.S. camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.